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#algorithmicwagediscrimination

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Mix Mistress Alice💄<p>Science fiction novelist, journalist and technology activist Cory Doctorow <span class="h-card" translate="no"><a href="https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic" class="u-url mention" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@<span>pluralistic</span></a></span> speech at the 2025 Ursula Franklin Lecture. &gt;</p><p><a href="https://vimeo.com/1059798497" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="">vimeo.com/1059798497</span><span class="invisible"></span></a></p><p><a href="https://todon.eu/tags/enshitification" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>enshitification</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/monopsonies" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>monopsonies</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/twiddling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>twiddling</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/LockedUsers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LockedUsers</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/LockedSellers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>LockedSellers</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/GAFAM" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GAFAM</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/lecture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>lecture</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>#speech <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/SurveillanceCapitalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>SurveillanceCapitalism</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/interoperability" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>interoperability</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/competition" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>competition</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/regulation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>regulation</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/WorkersPower" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WorkersPower</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/BigData" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>BigData</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/sellers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>sellers</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/users" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>users</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/TechnoFeudalism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TechnoFeudalism</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/employment" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>employment</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/ratings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>ratings</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/Uberisation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>Uberisation</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/queries" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>queries</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/JediBlue" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>JediBlue</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/profiling" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>profiling</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/enshitified" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>enshitified</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/internet" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>internet</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/abuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>abuse</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/DataBrokers" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DataBrokers</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/AntitrustLaw" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AntitrustLaw</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/TechLayoffs" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TechLayoffs</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/RegulatoryCaptures" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>RegulatoryCaptures</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/TechnologicalAbuse" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TechnologicalAbuse</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/privacy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>privacy</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/value" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>value</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/GiantPileOfShit" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GiantPileOfShit</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/TechnicalMechanism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>TechnicalMechanism</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/rankings" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>rankings</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/unions" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>unions</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/digitalisation" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>digitalisation</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/nursing" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>nursing</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/speech" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>speech</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/lecture" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>lecture</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/video" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>video</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/coporatocracy" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>coporatocracy</span></a> <a href="https://todon.eu/tags/monopoly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>monopoly</span></a></p>
Cory Doctorow<p>Think of labor law: as <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/VeenaDubal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VeenaDubal</span></a> writes, gig-work companies practice <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>, turning your paycheck into a slot machine that pays out more when you are more selective about which jobs you take, and which then docks your pay by tiny increments as you become less discriminating about answering the app's call:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>20/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>Without these constraints, corporate twiddlers can engage in all kinds of ripoffs, like <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/WageTheft" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>WageTheft</span></a> and <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>Twiddling is key to the <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/DarthVaderMBA" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>DarthVaderMBA</span></a> ("I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it further"), in which features are confiscated from moment to moment, without warning or recourse:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit</span><span class="invisible">-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure</span></a></p><p>23/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>The best way to steal from drivers is with <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>. That's when Uber offers occassional, selective drivers higher rates than it gives to drivers who are fully locked to its platform and take every ride the app offers. The less selective a driver becomes, the lower the premium the app offers goes, but if a driver starts refusing rides, the wage offer climbs again. </p><p>20/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>Uber has doubled the cost of rides and halved drivers' wages, using illegal gimmicks like <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a> to squeeze a little more juice out of the nearly exhausted husks of its workforce:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>But Stein's Law hasn't been repealed. Drivers can't drive for sub-subsistence wages. Do that long enough and they'll literally starve: that's what "subsistence" means. </p><p>13/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>A sleazy boss can hide their wage-theft with a bunch of confusing deductions to your paycheck. But when your boss is an app, it can engage in <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>, where your pay declines minutely every time you accept a job, but if you start to decline jobs, the app can raise the offer:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>4/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>* move your media files and apps from any platform to any device or service, even if the company that sold them to you objects:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/audible-exclusive/#audiblegate" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2022/09/07/aud</span><span class="invisible">ible-exclusive/#audiblegate</span></a></p><p>A new, good internet gives powers to users, and takes power away from corporations:</p><p><a href="https://doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9690cce6" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1</span><span class="invisible">b5c9690cce6</span></a></p><p>On a new, good internet, companies can't practice <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>14/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>Like Lyft, Uber practices <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>, <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/VeenaDubal" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>VeenaDubal</span></a>'s term describing the illegal practice of offering workers different payouts for the same work. Uber's algorithm seeks out "pickers" who are choosy about which rides they take, and converts them to "ants" (who take every ride offered) by paying them more for the same job, until they drop all their other gigs, whereupon the algorithm cuts their pay back to the rates paid to ants:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>20/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>When we talk about the abuses of <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/GigWork" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>GigWork</span></a>, there's some obvious targets, like <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>, where two workers are paid different rates for the same job, in order to trick occasional gig-workers to give up their other sources of income and become dependent on the app:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/algorithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/04/12/alg</span><span class="invisible">orithmic-wage-discrimination/#fishers-of-men</span></a></p><p>--</p><p>If you'd like an essay-formatted version to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:</p><p><a href="https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/computer-says-scab/#instawork" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">pluralistic.net/2023/07/30/com</span><span class="invisible">puter-says-scab/#instawork</span></a></p><p>1/</p>
Cory Doctorow<p>All of this sets the stage for a phenomenon called <a href="https://mamot.fr/tags/AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">#<span>AlgorithmicWageDiscrimination</span></a>, in which two workers doing the same job under the same conditions will see radically different payouts for that work. These payouts are continuously tweaked in the background by an algorithm that tries to predict the minimum sum a worker will accept to remain available *without* payment, to ensure sufficient workers to pick up jobs as they arise.</p><p>20/</p>
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